Ben\’s 1967 Pontiac Firebird 400 Rod & Restoration

I got my stimulus check, and after stunting my project funding by purchasing my wife’s new scooter, I felt I was due for a little shopping.  So today I ordered a new Flaming River tilt steering column and a remanufactured gearbox from O’Reilly.  They cost me a whopping $290 and $140 respectively (TC – $10770).  Man, I really need to get some of my old junk sold.

I still need a new ignition, since the old one was on the column, and this one isn’t, and I’m dying to get the new steering wheel, too.  That’ll cost me another $162 plus tax, which will bring the total to $592; almost my entire tax check.  Easy come, easy go.

Half the battle, I’m learning, is the planning, research and shopping. I’ve done a little tinkering with the wiring and wipers and such in the past month, but I’ve been stunted as to what to tackle next. So, I’ve been driving it a little on the weekends, figuring out what bugs me, what’s not working right, etc. In doing so, I’ve come to a plan for this summer. So without further ado:

1) Steering. Something’s not right with it, and I’m guessing it’s the gear box. I found that there’s basically 3 types of steering boxes that can be placed in this vehicle – tight, regular and loose. It says that the tight one gives a full steer at 2 to 3 revolutions, which I think is what I’ve got, and really hate. The loose one seems a bit much, like a school bus, so that’s out, and I’m going to get the Cardone Steering Box with 3 3/4 – 4 1/4 Turns Lock To Lock.

Due to the limited interior options, I’m also going to have to replace the steering column with a 2″ diameter stock style, and I’m pretty sure it’s going to be an IDIDIT tilt column, but I’m definitely going to shop around, since I’ve seen them going for around $300 to $600. I’m also going to wait on it and try to use the crappy existing column for the time being to save some dough.

There’s also the issue of the steering wheel and all the little adapter junk, of which I’ve chosen a nice repro 3 spoke from Classic Industries. All in all, this will probably cost me about $800. It could be worse, but it’s still not cheap!

2) Radiator and Fan. In the very least, I need an overflow bottle. I’d like to also put in a “Be Cool” or Summit aluminum radiator and an electronic fan to cut the power drain on the engine. That could cost over $600 to $1000, so I’m not really quick to move on it, if the overflow bottle works just fine.

3) Heater/Air/Blower. I’ve got none at all right now, so I have to get the whole thing from Vintage Air (Gen IV), and we’re talking $1200, so this’ll be put in this fall or later.

Well, That’s about $2500 worth of shit to do, so I think it’ll take me some time to put the scratch together. I’ll keep watching Ebay!